Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company

The mission of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is to promote the diversity of artistic talents in Pittsburgh. From playwrights to actors to technicians, PPTCO's goal is to build an environment that brings people together from diverse backgrounds to create quality theatrical experiences for the people backstage, onstage and in the audience.

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company was founded in 2003 by Mark Clayton Southers. The course of Southers' career in the arts was set when he met August Wilson at a theatre festival in South Africa. Wilson encouraged Mark to write and direct plays as a response to the socioeconomic and cultural disparity within the Pittsburgh theatre community. This effort grew as Southers became aware of the large untapped resource of local playwrights, actors and budding young theatre professionals. Thus, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company was established to showcase the works of local playwrights, to develop racially and culturally diverse audiences, and to provide an environment for local playwrights, actors, directors and technicians to hone their craft.

PPTCO develops and showcases the works of local playwrights; from accomplished masters like August Wilson to the region's many promising new writers. We seek to nurture a racially and culturally diverse community of theatre professionals, while supporting a similarly diverse management staff and board of directors who, working together, develop audiences that reflect the richness and variety of Pittsburgh's arts community. Through such sharing of talents, resources, perspectives and experiences we aspire to provide artistic enlightenment that will strengthen our community.

PPTCO produces an annual season of plays, usually 4 or 5 productions per season. Within that season, we produce the annual Theatre Festival in Black and White, a unique event presenting five plays by white actors that are directed by black directors and five play by black playwrights, directed by white directors. This has become our signature annual production.

PPTCO's first two seasons were presented at the Penn Theater in Bloomfield/Garfield, during which time the company began it's seminal reexamination of the plays of August Wilson and held the first Theatre Festival in Black & White, an ongoing event that has become a must see ticket for savvy Pittsburgh theatre goers.

In 2005 the company moved to a new, dedicated theater space located at 542 Penn Ave. in Pittsburgh's downtown Cultural District, a move that was made possible with funds supplied by the RK Mellon Foundation.

PPTCO continued to operate out of this performance venue until 2011 and a great many resources went into building the new theatre. A stage with thrust 3/4 seating was built using seats from the previous location. In addition, PPTCO built an electrical grid with a used lighting package from a local university. The company built out rehearsal and shop spaces, replaced windows, built a concession space and created a lobby with a small performance stage. However, when the building was sold the leased ended and Playwrights was forced to look for a new home.

In 2011 PPTCO moved to the third floor of 937 Liberty Ave, a site owned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The company signed a long term lease on very favorable terms that allowed PPTCO to exist in a safe, clean, climate controlled space in a building that houses Bricolage and other arts organizations. In this new home the company has been able to advance its own artistic identity in a nurturing, creative environment.

Pittsburgh Playwrights is one of the region's most important small theatre groups, and needs a space that projects and protects this image. By design, the company created a theater with a 99-seat capacity and, using newly reupholstered seats, created a comfortable relaxed performance environment. With help from a special grant from the Heinz Endowments, Playwrights installed a state of the art lighting package, a sprung platform stage, and a new sound board. The newly refurbished and equipped stage debuted in February, 2012 and the first season at that location was a great success. Critical response to the space was positive, and earned income increased as PPTCO focused on the price of tickets and the maximization of seating capacity.

2013 saw the completion of Pittsburgh Playwrights' presentation of all ten of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle plays, and while the company continues to be the area's most visible presenter of African-American theatre, PPTCO will continue to expand its presentation of a range of theatre that most broadly represents Pittsburgh's diversity.